III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 273 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations and other international organizations shall not be allowed to exercise control over the 

Internet. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 17, 2005 

Mr. COLEMAN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations 

and other international organizations shall not be allowed 

to exercise control over the Internet. 

Whereas market-based policies and private sector leadership 

have allowed the Internet the flexibility to evolve; 

Whereas given the importance of the Internet to the global 

economy, it is essential that the underlying domain name 

system and technical infrastructure of the Internet remain stable and secure; 

Whereas the Internet was created in the United States and 

has flourished under United States supervision and oversight, and the Federal Government has followed a path 

of transferring Internet control from the defense sector 

to the civilian sector, including the Internet Corporation 
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for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) with the 

goal of full privatization; 

Whereas the developing world deserves the access to knowledge, services, commerce, and communication, the accompanying benefits to economic development, education, 

health care, and the informed discussion that is the bedrock of democratic self-government that the Internet provides; 

Whereas the explosive and hugely beneficial growth of the 

Internet did not result from increased government involvement but from the opening of the Internet to commerce and private sector innovation; 

Whereas, on June 30, 2005, President George W. Bush announced that the United States intends to maintain its 

historic role over the master ‘‘root zone’’ file of the Internet, which lists all authorized top-level Internet domains; 

Whereas the recently articulated principles of the United 

States on the domain name and addressing system of the 

Internet (DNS) are that the Federal Government will 

preserve the security and stability of the DNS, will take 

no action with the potential to adversely affect the effective and efficient operation of the DNS, and will maintain the historic role of the United States regarding 

modifications to the root zone file, that governments have 

a legitimate interest in the management of country code 

top level domains (ccTLD), and the United States is 

committed to working with the international community 

to address the concerns of that community in accordance 

with the stability and security of the DNS, that ICANN 

is the appropriate technical manager of the Internet, and 

the United States will continue to provide oversight so 

that ICANN maintains focus and meets its core technical 
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mission, and that dialogue relating to Internet governance should continue in multiple relevant fora, and the 

United States encourages an ongoing dialogue with all 

stakeholders and will continue to support market-based 

approaches and private sector leadership; 

Whereas the final report issued by the Working Group on 

Internet Governance (WGIG) of the United Nations indicates that an entity affiliated with the United Nations 

should assume global governance of the Internet; 

Whereas a United Nations taskforce report suggests that, in 

addition to terminating the leadership role of the United 

States with respect to the Internet, the authority and 

functions of ICANN should be transferred to an entity 

affiliated with the United Nations; 

Whereas that report contains recommendations for relegating 

the private sector and nongovernmental organizations to 

an advisory capacity, and some nations advocating such 

a change have stated that the private sector and nongovernmental organizations should have no future role in 

Internet governance; 

Whereas the European Union has also proposed transferring 

control of the Internet to the United Nations, and such 

a transfer of control of the Internet would confer significant leverage to the governments of Iran, Cuba, and 

China, and would impose an undesirable layer of politicized bureaucracy on the operations of the Internet that 

would result in an inadequate response to the rapid pace 

of technological change; 

Whereas some nations that advocate radical change in the 

structure of Internet governance censor the information 

available to their citizens through the Internet and use 
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the Internet as a tool of surveillance to curtail legitimate 

political discussion and dissent, and other nations operate 

telecommunications systems as state-controlled monopolies or highly-regulated and highly-taxed entities; 

Whereas some nations in support of transferring Internet 

governance to an entity affiliated with the United Nations, or another international entity, might seek to have 

such an entity endorse national policies that block access 

to information, stifle political dissent, and maintain outmoded communications structures; 

Whereas the structure and control of Internet governance has 

profound implications for homeland security, competition 

and trade, democratization, free expression, access to information, privacy, and the protection of intellectual 

property, and the threat of some nations to take unilateral actions that would fracture the root zone file would 

result in a less functional Internet with diminished benefits for all people; and 

Whereas the World Summit on the Information Society will 

meet in November 2005 in Tunisia to discuss the possibility of transferring control of the Internet to the United 

Nations or another international entity, and that summit 

will likely be the beginning of a prolonged international 

debate regarding the future of Internet governance: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) calls on the President to continue to oppose 

3 any effort to transfer control of the Internet to the 

4 United Nations or any other international entity; 

5 (2) applauds the President for— 
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1 (A) clearly and forcefully asserting that 

2 the United States has no present intention of 

3 relinquishing the historic leadership role the 

4 United States has played in Internet govern5 ance; and 

6 (B) articulating a vision of the future of 

7 the Internet that places privatization over 

8 politicization with respect to the Internet; and 

9 (3) calls on the President to— 

10 (A) recognize the need for, and pursue a 

11 continuing and constructive dialogue with the 

12 international community on, the future of Inter13 net governance; and 

14 (B) advance the values of an open Internet 

15 in the broader trade and diplomatic conversa16 tions of the United States. 

Æ